Potato harvesting season is in full swing in district Mansehra of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The cultivators in Baffa, Khaki, Bherkund, Khawajgan, Trangri and surrounding areas of Mansehra are seen filling potatoes in gunny bags from early morning till late evening. These labourers also include women and children. They spend entire day in agricultural fields and are seen doing breakfast and lunch in fields.
The other segment of the labourers is the people who take the bags filled with potatoes to vehicles parked near the agricultural fields for shifted them to the main ‘Sabzi Mandi’ of Mansehra from where they were transported to other markets of other citizens.
Another section of labourers is young children aged between seven to 12 years. These children search for potatoes in the agricultural fields which have been cleared of the cultivators.
Despite all out efforts of the cultivators, potatoes are left inside ground in the fields. The young children residing in the areas surrounding these fields with required equipment reach the fields that have been cleared by the cultivators.
The children search for the potatoes left behind and during this search each of these young labourers manage to collect 10 to 15 kilogram potatoes on daily basis which means they earn Rs1000 to Rs1300 within three to five hours.
This is daily practice of these young labourers in the areas where potatoes are cultivated till end of the season. Abu Baqar and Ayan, two young labourers hailing from Trangri Paen area informed ‘The Green Post’ that they earn Rs30,000 to Rs40,000 every year through potato collection without investing or spend money. Another citizen Maqsood ur Rehman said that those who talk of unemployment and of having no work to earn livelihood for their families should learn from these young potato collectors.
